Life Number Nine

by Joe Heap

'A beautifully written love story that travels beyond epic' ANSTEY HARRIS, author of THE HOUSE OF LOST SECRETSFrom the critically acclaimed author of THE RULES OF SEEING and WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS Jem and Mika have never met.

Jem and Mika's lives have intertwined, again and again, across lifetimes.

Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and felt that you know them?

When perfect strangers Mika and Jem first meet by chance, they recognise each other – not from life, but from a shared dream. Both are wary of forming new connections and have their demons to Jem is in recovery from a near-fatal accident, and Mika is undocumented and under scrutiny from the authorities.

As their dreams – or are they memories? – grow in intensity, they are forced to consider the possibility that they have known and loved each other over and over, across the centuries. Will they find happiness together this time?

Moving from present-day London through eras and across continents, Life Number Nine is an epic literary achievement and a groundbreaking love story.

READERS ARE SAYING…

'An epic literary achievement and a groundbreaking love story' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A love story like no other. Joe Heap writes with the soul of a poet’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Ah hauntingly beautiful love story that transcends time’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘One of those books I want to reread the minute I finished the last page’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘So achingly beautiful that it takes your breath away’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genres: Audiobook, Fiction

408 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2025

About the author

Joe Heap was born in 1986 to a biology teacher and a drama teacher, and grew up in a house that was 70% books, 25% bags of unmarked homework, 18% underpants drying on radiators, and 3% scattered Lego bricks.

He is very bad at maths.

In 2004 Joe won the Foyle Young Poet award, and his poetry has been published in several periodicals. He studied for a BA in English Literature at Stirling University and a Masters in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, during which time he ate a deep-fried Mars Bar. It was okay.

Joe is now a full-time writer, but previously worked as an editor of books for kids and young adults. He has also been a subtitler for BBC News, a face painter at a safari park and a removal man for a dental convention. Before smartphones were invented, he manned a text service where people could ‘ask any question’, but he has since forgotten most of the answers.

He lives in London with his long-suffering girlfriend, short-suffering son, and much-aggrieved tabby cat.

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Have you ever wondered how many times you met someone before you met them? How many times you passed a future lover in the street, sat in the same restaurant as a friend-to-be, rode the train with a not-yet-enemy? Or perhaps it was more remote. Did you laugh at the same joke on TV? Did you look up to the moon at the same moment? It must have happened. How entangled were your lives, before you tangled? And before that? How many times did your mothers meet, or your mothers’ mothers, or your great grandmothers’ great grandmothers? Those were your lives too. You just forgot them, at the moment of birth. With each birth a forgetting, a splitting in half, but the truth remains: you were there.”

Life Number Nine is the third novel by award-winning British author, Joe Heap. It requires little or no suspension of disbelief to accept Heap’s premise that now might not be the first time we encounter someone in our lives.

Mika Zielinski is an Eastern European sous-chef who has overstayed her visa. Her boss at the exclusive London restaurant is awful; she and her co-workers support each other and cope. But now she’s pregnant after a one-night-stand with the restaurant dishwasher, and her boss is unsympathetic. She’s instantly jobless and, after an impulsive act of revenge, it isn’t safe to go back to her flat.

Jem Adjaye works a menial bank job and, moments after his first glimpse of Mika, is hit by a car. In the ICU he teeters between life and death, making a deal that lets him live to seek adventure. Back home, on crutches, he attends a lucid dreaming workshop where he sees Mika again, a less than friendly encounter. But that night, they share a dream.

“I’ve been given a second chance at life but I don’t know what to do with it and I’m terrified I’m already wasting it. I had the strangest dream and I half believe it was real. I’m afraid there’s a crack in my brain and I’m starting to leak out of it. I’m afraid I might be going crazy.”

Even though they eventually arrange to meet, their shared experience doesn’t convince Mika that they need to be friends. But the dreams keep happening, and they seem to involve encounters between them moving forward from pre-historic times. But what does it all mean?

Heap prefaces many of the chapters with a bunch of facts about what is happening around the world as time passes, and there is a small but significant appearance from the protagonist of his first novel.

This is a beautifully-told story in which the reader can’t help hoping Jem and Mika find happiness together. There are some scenes, though, that will require having the tissues handy. Heap gives the reader some gorgeous descriptive prose: “Does she follow the sound? Better to say the silver hook Which has hooked her by the ear Pulls her through the teeming crowd, Like a fish that doesn’t struggle” is one example. Heap’s backlist will now appear on many TBRs, and more from him will be most welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my God, this book is so unbearably sad! I found Life Number Nine extremely frustrating. I was willing Mika and Jem on to a breakthrough throughout the book, and it took too ong!
If I had written this book, I would have called it If Only She Had Been Nicer. Mika and Jen continually have these beautiful moments in shared dreams, and most of the time they meet in real life, Mika is defensive, horrible and badly behaved towards Jem. What had Jem ever done to her?

[Talia Melesi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I persevered with this because I liked the past life premise but it just fell flat. I was waiting for a strong emotional connection but I didn’t connect to either of the main characters. Mika was overall horrible to Jem so I wasn’t rooting for their relationship. The various formatting of the dream sequences was ambitious but felt jarring.

[Audrey Haylins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been waiting over four years for this book and kept it unopened for a further four weeks, so scared was I that it wouldn’t live up to expectations. Suffice to say, I should have had more faith. Life Number Nine is a wholly unique masterpiece of imagination and form, a love story like no other and, more than that, a paean to the mysteries of the universe.

It is the story of bank employee Jem, who spends his days winding up the accounts of the deceased, and Mika, an illegally employed chef from Eastern Europe, who has overstayed her UK visa. When their paths cross at a lucid dreaming workshop, the connection is immediate and made all the more powerful when they start having vivid dreams about meeting in past lives.

What follows is a hypnotic and thought-provoking tale of two souls tumbling through time and space and repeatedly colliding briefly before spinning off again in opposite directions. Their encounters take place over millennia, are fleeting but memorable, are not always romantic but consistently meaningful. In the here and now, Jem and Mika finally have the chance to realise their destiny as soulmates. Or do they?

I’ll be honest and confess that this is a challenging book to read. It demands the suspension of belief and logic and a commitment to the author’s creativity and intellect. Trust me, though, when I say you’re in safe hands.

Joe Heap writes with the soul of a poet, in language that speaks to the heart as well as the mind. He couches the tales — the dreams — of past encounters in multiple forms: in verse, as playlets, as stories taken from ancient scripts. Scattered at intervals throughout the main narrative, each one of these is a tiny work of art in its own right and a constant reminder that Jem and Mika are but puppets in the overall scheme of the universe, their fate as precarious as life itself.

As much as I looked forward to these transportive little vignettes, though, it was Jem and Mika’s present day romance that held me in its thrall. Would they overcome their individual trials to reach a happy ever after or would there be yet another twist of fate?

One doesn’t have to believe in reincarnation or the notion of soulmates in order to appreciate the beauty and sheer heft of Life Number Nine. It’s a stunning work by any measure and consolidates Joe Heap as one of the UK’s most gifted literary talents.

[Tea Leaves and Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love 'What If?' novels, but they have to be done well in what can often be a saturated area in fiction. Throw in a healthy amount of time travel, across centuries in fact, a couple of main characters who just work so well together on the pages, and we just might have the perfect contender with Joe Heap's 'Life Number Nine.'

Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and felt so very strongly that you know them? That's the underlying story here and it's simple enough but my goodness, told through the most beautiful of prose, across lifetimes, dreams and memories, this book is something else. It's an incredible blend of speculative fiction with deep, emotional reality, offering a unique look at 'What If.'

[Emily Galang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Flawed characters and reads like a poem. I’m not sure what to take from it for life because there are so many deep messages.

[Tina Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank to both author and publisher and to netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a real challenge of a book. A magical love story, hidden in multiple experiences and some truly special, at times experimental, writing. Jem is a bank worker and Mika an illegal immigrant working in the hospitality industry. They meet by accident and begin to encounter each other in a series of dreams. They don't particularly like or want this but are gradually drawn to each other.

Suspend logic, set your expectations to one side, don't expect this to make much sense at first. Travel with Jem and Mika, see where love will take them. It will take you to the most gentle, poetic, passionate, exasperating love story. It will teach you what love means. Stick with it and Jem and Mika will stick with you.

Thank you for this exasperating, confusing and beautiful experience... Where will love take you today?

[Papergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I launch into my review, I would like to say a warm thank you to Joe Heap, Harper Collins UK, The Borough Press, and Netgalley for the Advanced Digital Reader Copy of this title. For the audience, here is my personal review of the book to help you decide whether you are interested or not. All opinions offered are my own.

Reasons for selecting this book:
• I have just finished reading a heavy, emotional WWII drama and wanted something a little lighter.
• Despite my Catholic beliefs, I have always maintained that I have a soulmate whom I believe I have met in other lifetimes, maybe in different capacities, that I have been unable to fully understand or explain.
In essence, this book just called to me and captured my attention in a way that I could not deny. Whilst I disliked the modern names, I felt an affinity with the characters before I really met them and was already invested in their journey before I completed the first page.

The Epigraph should have been the first clue that this book was going to have a unique format. Perhaps because I had a PDF Digital Advanced Copy of the novel, I felt that the font was smaller than I was accustomed to, and that spacing between paragraphs would have been beneficial for accessibility purposes for people reading on smaller screen. This prompted me to scan ahead where I noticed:
• Each section of the book is comprised of three chapters excluding the Epigraph and Epilogue.
• Other than the Epigraph and Epilogue, each section corresponds to a month of the year, starting in May and finishing in December.
• Every third chapter, i.e., the final chapter in a section has an unusual format to accommodate different mediums e.g., poetry, ancient tablets, stories, and scripts.
Without much reading, I was overcome by the author’s creativity and uniqueness. The book was reeling me in without even trying, and at this point, I was ready to dive in and hoped that the story was every bit as interesting as I was beginning to imagine it would be.

Now, as suspected, I loved reading the short, succinct extracts of past lives and I loved how different Mika and Jem were, demonstrated in both content and writing styles. Like my own take on soulmates, not all the lives saw the characters involved in romantic relationships, and on occasion, their genders differed. However, this is where my interest and love died.

Mika and Jem are fated to continually cross paths in each lifetime. Sometimes the cross is fleeting, other times it is more profound. There is always a pull between them, but it is rarely understood. Through lucid dreams, will these two characters finally understand why they are on a shared trajectory?

I’m not often stumped for words, so I’m flailing here. To cut a long story short, I did not really enjoy Life Number Nine. I found it hard to pay attention to the current life and only sprung to life when I was transported to the past. I struggled to relate to the characters and didn’t really care enough about them by the midpoint of the book. Aside from a belief in past lives, there was no similarities between me and any of the characters. They just felt alien to me.

I usually like a hard and fast ending where I am not expected to fill in the huge gap left by the absence of the author writing it, however, on this occasion, I enjoyed that there was the opportunity to form my own judgement.

This book is for someone that likes a unique writing style and is probably in their late teens to mid-twenties. They may also appreciate historical fiction. Other than that, my opinion is that this book has the Marmite Effect. You will either love it or hate it. For me, it just did not connect, and I have probably underestimated a lot of signs and symbolism. The blurb hooked me, but the writing was not enough to keep me. For this reason, I have only mustered two out of five stars for this book.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Have you ever wondered how many times you met someone before you met them? How many times you passed a future lover in the street, sat in the same restaurant as a friend-to-be, rode the train with a not-yet-enemy? Or perhaps it was more remote. Did you laugh at the same joke on TV? Did you look up to the moon at the same moment? It must have happened. How entangled were your lives, before you tangled? And before that? How many times did your mothers meet, or your mothers’ mothers, or your great grandmothers’ great grandmothers? Those were your lives too. You just forgot them, at the moment of birth. With each birth a forgetting, a splitting in half, but the truth remains: you were there.”

Life Number Nine is the third novel by award-winning British author, Joe Heap. The audio version is narrated by Sofia Engstrand. It requires little or no suspension of disbelief to accept Heap’s premise that now might not be the first time we encounter someone in our lives.

Mika Zielinski is an Eastern European sous-chef who has overstayed her visa. Her boss at the exclusive London restaurant is awful; she and her co-workers support each other and cope. But now she’s pregnant after a one-night-stand with the restaurant dishwasher, and her boss is unsympathetic. She’s instantly jobless and, after an impulsive act of revenge, it isn’t safe to go back to her flat.

Jem Adjaye works a menial bank job and, moments after his first glimpse of Mika, is hit by a car. In the ICU he teeters between life and death, making a deal that lets him live to seek adventure. Back home, on crutches, he attends a lucid dreaming workshop where he sees Mika again, a less than friendly encounter. But that night, they share a dream.

“I’ve been given a second chance at life but I don’t know what to do with it and I’m terrified I’m already wasting it. I had the strangest dream and I half believe it was real. I’m afraid there’s a crack in my brain and I’m starting to leak out of it. I’m afraid I might be going crazy.”

Even though they eventually arrange to meet, their shared experience doesn’t convince Mika that they need to be friends. But the dreams keep happening, and they seem to involve encounters between them moving forward from pre-historic times. But what does it all mean?

Heap prefaces many of the chapters with a bunch of facts about what is happening around the world as time passes, and there is a small but significant appearance from the protagonist of his first novel.

This is a beautifully-told story in which the reader can’t help hoping Jem and Mika find happiness together. There are some scenes, though, that will require having the tissues handy. Heap gives the reader some gorgeous descriptive prose: “Does she follow the sound? Better to say the silver hook Which has hooked her by the ear Pulls her through the teeming crowd, Like a fish that doesn’t struggle” is one example. Heap’s backlist will now appear on many TBRs, and more from him will be most welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK.

[Marjorie Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book for my DNF (did not finish) shelf, I’m afraid. I loved lots of things about this book, and I was nearly 3/4 through it when I decided to give up, but I just couldn’t work up enough enthusiasm to stick with it and finish it. And when my library’s Borrowbox app told me the Hilary Mantel book I’d been waiting for was available for me to download , I’m afraid Jem and Mika’s fate was sealed and the (hopefully successful) completion of their story isn’t for me. As I get older, I’m less willing to spent time on anything that doesn’t keep me engaged.

So, what did I like? I loved the writing style, and I loved the many descriptions of time passing through minutes, years, centuries and eons.

For example . . .

“The new month begins with showers, sluicing down the sun-sticky pavements and extinguishing summer barbecues. From space, Earth shows her scars without pride or shame. There is the old wound torn through California, above the San Andreas fault. There is Uluru, eroded into a lone island of rock by 500 million years of wind and weather. There are newer changes, not all destructive. In the South Pacific, over a matter of weeks, two previously separate islands are joined by an underwater eruption. A ring-tailed possum, who has lived all her life on one island, puts a tentative foot on the bridge of black rock, wondering where it might lead.”

Or . . .

“In that time, Nike has earned seven hundred and thirty thousand US dollars. Workers at the Nike factory in Vietnam earned twenty-three cents each. World military spending was seventy-two million dollars, while people donated sixty-two million to charities. Twelve million Coca-Colas were consumed, seventy-two thousand lipsticks produced, and one thousand one hundred and sixty aeroplanes took off. There have been ninety-eight earthquakes and lightning has struck fifty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty-five times”

Time is of the essence in this story. It’s the story of Jem and Mika, who meet and (almost) fall in love many times, over the ages the earth has supported human life. But each time, the chance passes them by, until the present age, when they have the chance to finally join their destinies. But time after time, some crisis or misunderstanding means that they meet in this life, then lose each other again. And that’s the bit that was beginning to get on my nerves. Once, twice, maybe even three times. But it just keeps on happening. And the coincidences that lead to the misunderstandings keep piling up.

I’m ready for them make a go of it now, and find happiness. Surely, with their increasing awareness of their shared experience of so many previous lives, they should know they are meant for each other by now, and not let the ongoing coincidental crises derail them? But for these two, happiness seems as elusive in this life as it was in past lives.

I loved the way the past life stories were told, and in many ways I’m disappointed to be skipping the last few of those. But I just can’t work up the enthusiasm to finish the rest of this life! Sorry.

[Philippa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a copy of Life Number Nine in exchange for a review.
Ever since I read ‘The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August’ by Claire North a few years ago – thoroughly recommended by the way – I have been caught by the idea of someone living the same or (slightly different) life over and over again. ‘Life After Life’ is a perfect example too, even something like ‘Dark Matter’ and ‘The Midnight Library’ explore this idea and that is what Life Number Nine does. We follow a couple, Jem and Mica, who have been known to each other in their past lives. So, it is concept closely related to soul mates and reincarnation – more specifically than the books I mention above, but still has that vibe. A what if, a how life could be different, of a link between two people that can’t be extinguished and there was no way I was going to be able to resist this book.
Jem and Mica are living in a modern London and meet through a lucid dream workshop. He’s uptight and lonely, she’s more carefree and assertive and their attraction springs from their shared dreams. I thought the idea of shared dreams was such an interesting one – as what is more intimate that your dreams? The thing no-one else ever shares and the idea of these two people connecting because of it was a fascinating concept. So interspersed with their lives as modern Londoners, we spend time with them in the middle east in the 14th century, as gladiators in Roman Spain and a 1970s campsite. These vignettes are written in different styles, including movie scripts, which I’m not sure really worked but I liked the idea of. When you consider the diversity of ways of telling stories in, for example ‘A Visit From the Goon Squad’, Joe Heap didn’t really offer as much of a range as he could. But that is a very small fault and to be honest, I was so hooked that I just wanted to know what happened next, where they were, when they were and how was it going to end.
I loved the ending – the glimpse into the future – that was so much fun!
In fact, most of the book was fun. There were sad bits, and Jem’s back story when it comes is tragic, but there is a lot of humour in the book. One thing I particularly liked was the enormous canvas that it was painted on. We were encouraged to look at the universe, then the earth, then the country before narrowing in on this one couple. So, we’d find out things like how many people are born every minute, how far the planet spins, and loads of other bits of random trivia that helped us see the broader view. It wasn’t necessary for the plot at all, but I felt added so much to the writing.
I will be recommending this book to all and sundry and I was genuinely sorry to end it. I had such a book hangover as a result of it. Looking forward to reading what the writer does next!

[A.J. Sefton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creative well-written book about connections and finding your place in the world.

This is a story set in London, about a couple who meet as strangers but have a feeling of familiarity about each other. They share dreams that feature each other in other places and different times, like both being Roman gladiators, for example. They each have their own baggage, but not abusive relationships or mental health issues, the type of things that are too common in novels, but recovering from a car accident and an expired visa.

Each trio of chapters focuses on one month in the present day, but it begins with what is happening scientifically in the world, how many hours are spent giving birth and other statistical information. The end of the chapter includes poetry, playscript or tablet carvings. All interesting stuff. Within the chapter are the events and thoughts of both characters, so sometimes a re-read is needed to put the narrative into context. A little irritating at first but then I came to realise that the two people are intricately connected that this jumbled up storytelling is actually perfect for a tale such as this.

The couple are interesting with depth of character and are compassionately depicted, especially the man. Their story is touching and immensely readable. The dreams (or memories?) are at times a tad confusing and tend to drag a bit in places. The themes of freedom, finding your place, travel and belonging to the world are reflected in his interest in birds and her owning a bus.

Perhaps not a unique idea, this book is original in its imaginative situations. Rather sad, it's not one of those romantic love stories. Nice to read something different by a very talented author.

[Helen Haythornthwaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book this was. It’s one of the most poignant love stories I’ve ever read.

I must admit that I didn’t get off to a good start with this story - it took a while to settle in and become used to the layout and this author’s writing style. But once I had, I was riveted and totally invested in this love story which has lasted since time immemorial.

Initially, the first few chapters appeared to be random thoughts and musings, followed by a chapter set out like poetry. This is what I found confusing, to begin with. and I had to re-read parts to make sense of it.

However, the story is then divided into months, starting with May and finishing with December, and this brought more clarity to the narrative. In each month, we read about Jem and Mika in the present before going back to a time they met in the distant past.

Their love story appears to be an unrequited one at times, and I wasn’t initially drawn to either character. However, as I read on, I realised just what depth and emotion there is to this story and I was hooked!

I grew to love both characters, as well as the sporadic relating of facts about the universe and the minutiae of daily life; and the way the past was written about: through poetry, rhythmic and blank verse, play scripts, film scripts and AI logs. This made it a far from easy read, and it wasn’t until I was about halfway that I felt I’d found my footing and really began to relish the story.

It’s like no other story I’ve ever read, and I am so glad I persevered with it. It’s beautiful, it’s powerful and it’s so emotional! I spent the last twenty minutes reading through the blur of tears.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life Number Nine by Joe Heap 🌎

'Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and felt that you know them?'

This book follows the emotional love story of Jem and Mika, complete strangers who meet by chance, but recognise each other - not from life, but from a shared dream.

Where to start?! 💭

I've struggled to find the right words to do this book justice as the story is so cleverly written and intricate that I want to do it justice, so here goes...

When Jem and Mika first cross paths, at a lucid dreaming workshop, both are very unsure of each other and confused by their shared dream. They have lots going on in their own lives and are reluctant to connect, however, they constantly feel the pull towards each other.

Jem, a divorced bank worker, and Mika, a chef whose visa has expired, are both experiencing massive life changing situations. They're complex individuals, with baggage, worries and flaws, which made them very relatable and endearing characters to get to know.

While the book follows a present-day timeline of their lives and their relationship developing, every so often a chapter will delve into the past - these are Jem and Mika's shared dreams, but they also feel like memories. The dreams are so vivid that it's like they've known each other over and over again in their past lives.

I can't deny that at some points the 'dream chapters' went a little bit over my head and I struggled to keep up, but they were also very thought-provoking, leaving me keen to read more and wondering where things were heading...

Jem and Mika have such an undeniable connection, that deepens as the story progresses, and the journey they go on together is of epic porpotions. A true mind-blowing, time travelling, love story of two souls that are just destined to be together, over and over again, no matter what ❤️

I won't give away the ending, but if you've managed to read this far I really hope that my thoughts and review hasn't baffled you too much!

This love story of true soulmates covers so much more than I can even begin to explain, and really is one of those books that you need to read and experience for yourself 💫

Thank you @harperfictionpr for my gifted copy 🥰

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

When perfect strangers Mika and Jem first meet by chance, they recognise each other - not from life, but from a shared dream. Both are wary of forming new connections and have their demons. jem is in recovery from a near-fatal accident, and Mika is undocumented and under scrutiny from the authorities. As their dreams - or are they memories? - grow intensity, they are forced to consider the possibility that they've known and loved each other over and over, across the centuries. Will they find happiness together this time?

This book was completely different to the books I normally read, and it made me think long and hard before I wrote my review. How often have you locked eyes with a stranger and think that you know them? This is quite an emotional read, it's well-written, but it's not always easy to follow. I loved all the parts that were written in the past. The pace is steady/

Published 13th February 2025

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK #HarperFiction and the author #JoeHeap for ny ARC of #LifeNumberNine in exchange for an honest review.

[Emily Portman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life Number Nine is so much more than a love story. It’s the thought-provoking journey of two imperfect beings. It’s about the meaning of soulmates. It’s about the fascinating idea that what if we’ve met each other before, in different lifetimes?

I was instantly captivated by Joe’s stunning words and grew to adore Jem and Mika’s incredibly moving story. It’s filled with hope and adventure, a book told through not only the present day life of two very different people, but also through dreams and memories spanning across centuries. The author experiments with different media formats - there are scripts and poetry which really kept things interesting and fresh, and I never knew what would come next. It’s emotion-filled, poignant at times, and really makes us think about the time we have on Earth and how we should make the most of it. A must read for those looking for something a bit different. I really enjoyed it!

[Dave Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jem and Mika are the hero's of our story, they share dreams, but why? That's the big mystery and it's fun finding out.

After a near death experience a lad called Jem craves an adventure what he didn't realise was the girl (lady) Mika he briefly meets at a dreams workshop is found to be, or is it was part of that adventure. Just like that last sentence dreams don't always make sense, but by the end of this novel all will become clear. It's a love story but no Mills and bloom thankfully 2 very different people with troubled pasts walk through life but all will.cgange after that one brief moment in a dream workshop.

So the storyline is very different to what I've read before and some wonderful characters that bring a life to this story. Mike and Jem are fascinating in many ways and their own stories withinthis one are gripping and absorbing at the same time. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it to you. I really hope you enjoy it as well.

[Jane Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life Number Nine is the most ambitious of the novels I've read by this author. In the present day, Mika and Jem don't know each other. They are both complex, flawed individuals trying to live well but constantly faced with conflicts. Both experience life-changing events, which make them aware of the other, and when they meet, this time, it is at a lucid dream workshop. The story explores their interactions in the present and dreams, which are so vivid they are like memories. The format for the dreams is varied as the author experiments with differing literary styles. It takes a while to appreciate some of these, but they all make the story original and resonating. It's a humorous, heartbreaking, and heartwarming emotional journey, showing the spectrum of human emotions and interactions. It's a story to savour and read more than once.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, yes it's worth a read if you're looking for something a bit different and existential.

What I liked - the concept of the book and the ingenuity of the story. Cleanly written and the references to time passing and the universality of human experience were fabulous.

What I didn't like - the misogynistic portrayal of female characters (Mika and Sara are both portrayed as shrews in their treatment of Jem), untidy and unecessary plot lines and inconsistencies in the story that don't make sense. I feel a less is more approach (in terms of the multiple different ways of telling the stories) would have worked better and I did feel the natural ending happened a lot earlier than the end of the book.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I was not keen on this at first, it was fragmented and I did not really get the concept. I do not like to give up on anything too easily though and about 20% in, the book had me totally spellbound and had reeled me in. The main characters, Jem & Mika, both have their own idiosyncracies and encounter one another regularly in different places/times and recognise each other . Although it sounds a bit farfetched, you do understand their deep connection which runs throughout the book. The book became a pageturner and I am so glad I have perservered with it.
Sometimes sad, sometimes lighthearted the book is mostly optimistic and unusual.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

[Sara Oxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an emotion wringing story. This is a difficult one to rate and write about as I know some people will read this and find it’s the best story of the year, and if you connect with the characters then that will be your go to, however if you struggle to get to grips with them, like I did you will see it’s a great story and well written, but sometimes you just don’t click, unlike the characters themselves. The overall story was great, it was just the characters that I struggled with at times.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having given The Rules of Seeing 4:*, I have to give this title 5 solid *!
It is described as a love story - which is not a genre I am keen on but this tale is so much more than a love story. It is a connection between two people with history who have engaged over time, continents and characters. It is not always easy to follow but is worth the effort. One of those books I want to reread the minute I finished the last page. It elicited so many emotions in me.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Joe Heap/HarperCollins UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

expected to be transported from one life to another and I wasn’t disappointed. The
story flows effortlessly from one setting or century to another and Mika and Jem always find each other in each life, even though they may each be very different from the previous life.
This is a really different read; sometimes sad; sometimes happy and always romantic.
I really loved the ending. Maybe there is more to life than we think!?
Very well worth reading

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved parts of this novel, but was intensely frustrated in others.
The relationship of Jem and Mike through several incarnations was an interesting one and took the feeling of knowing someone instantly upon meeting to a new level.
I didn't warm to Mika's character in any of her/his forms. I just wanted Jem to be happy.
Thank you to netgalley for my ARC copy of this novel in return for my review

[Natalia_Reads]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this great ARC. I love how this love story is told through different eras of time with different narrative styles which help separate the actual chapters on the present day from those time skips, it is very original. The story itself is quite well-paced and it makes you believe that everything happens for a reason, especially love

(Review for the Netgalley panel)

[Rachel McMaster · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really thought-provoking book that ultimately left me feeling frustrated with the imperfections of the main characters.
This book also kinda broke my heart a bit; it really made me reflect on life and not taking things for granted. Would recommend if you’re wanting something a bit different to read.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sent a copy of Life Number Nine by Joe Heap to read and review by NetGalley. I enjoyed reading this novel. I’m quite sure people will liken it to The Time Travellers Wife, but I personally think that it is much better than that particular book. The concept was really interesting, as were the statistics that were scattered throughout - although there were times when I just wanted to get on with the story. I wouldn’t say it was the best I have read in this particular genre but it was very readable, if a little long.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My last book of April and my favourite. I loved this book. The writing is completely beautiful and evocative. Mika and Jem are now two of my favourite characters. And the love they share is just gorgeous. A story about fate, soul mates and the connections that love creates. This book also had me crying real tears. Wonderful!

[Belinda Loves Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good but basically the same story as Brian Selznick's Kaleidoscope that I read last month. Instead of meeting through space and time they meet in lucid dreams also through space and time. Mind you both books are as good as each other.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried really hard with the audiobook version, but I think for me it might be better as an ebook. I never connected with the main characters despite re-reading the first 1/3 of the book several times.